Hunter Biden's plea deal collapsed after weeks of negotiations that started with the prospect that he wouldn't face criminal charges.
Now, special counsel David Weiss says they cannot move forward unless Hunter pleads guilty to tax violations.
The change came after two IRS whistleblowers accused the Department of Justice of blocking the investigation into the president's son, reported The New York Times Saturday in an extensive examination of how the deal eventually failed.
The IRS whistleblowers and Republican allies say the evidence they presented — and when it was presented — influenced the outcome, which senior law enforcement officials deny.
"It appears that if it weren't for the courageous actions of these whistleblowers, who had nothing to gain and everything to lose, Hunter Biden would never have been charged at all," lawyers for one of the IRS whistleblowers said in a statement, which also claimed that the initial plea agreement allowed preferential treatment for the first son.
Weiss, a U.S. attorney in Delaware who was appointed to that post by former President Donald Trump, is not commenting, as he's legally prohibited from discussing the open investigation.
However, a senior law enforcement official said to have knowledge of the situation denied Weiss was influenced by other pressures but said the changes came as the negotiations moved along.
Documents and interviews show that the relationship between Hunter Biden's lawyers and Weiss' office broke down after one of the U.S. attorney's top deputies, who was targeted by the whistleblowers and Republican allies, left the team.
It is not clear what will happen next, reported the Times, considering that Christopher Clark, who represented the president's son in the plea negotiations, has quit and says he plans to testify as a witness on Biden's behalf.
Clark has also accused the prosecutors in the case of reneging on commitments, and Republicans are working to expand the political damage to the president while former President Donald Trump fights four criminal prosecutions.
Weiss' new status as special counsel may provide him more leverage in a new plea deal with Hunter Biden, but he could also produce a report that could become public before the 2024 election.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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